This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The Retrovirus Research Center (RRC) is a research center that promotes and facilitates the study of HIV/AIDS and other retroviruses in Puerto Rico. The center is sponsored by the Universidad Central del Caribe and its health care facility in Bayamon Puerto Rico. The aim of the RRC is to promote the study of HIV- infection as a multidisciplinary research arena in which the clinical, immunological, virological, psychosocial and behavioral parameters need to be integrated into a coherent research strategy. The center agglutinates multidisciplinary researchers interesting in describing and understanding key elements of HIV-infection according to an ecological view of the disease. The current proposal organized the structure of the center in three interlacing core facilities, which will provide support for the development of innovative pilot studies. The Leadership Core coordinates and facilitates an intellectually stimulating environment for HIV/AIDS research by playing a proactive role in generating hypothesis-driven studies. This multidisciplinary vision of the RRC is responsive to the vision of the National Institutes of Health their role of studying the complexity of diseases. Our population is mostly Hispanic and between 70-80% have HIV- infection directly or indirectly related to substance abuse practices. The RRC has an important role in continuing the research with the ultimate goal of diminishing the spreading nature of the HIV epidemic in the island. The Leadership Core will provide an administrative infrastructure and logistic to support research activities through its main two core facilities: The HIV/AIDS Data Core and the Laboratory Core.